What items do you collect from cities/countries you've visited?

KevinK

Haircuts.

I like to collect hair cuts on my travels, I'm not into bringing stuff home so it seems like a good "souvenir"
I've gotten my hair cut in 13 different countries so far.

keith16

I usually try to take a local newspaper. Has a date as well as an obvious location so always think it's a nice memento as well as having the news from when I was there.

Miss Lockhart

I always buy a fridge magnet, a Christmas tree decoration and pens/pencilsparers and other stationary.

I usually try to get a reusable shopping bag from a local supermarket too.

madrabui

I try and buy something that I would use everyday i.e. something for the kitchen or hobby. A jacket from Italy, a spatula from France, a plant pot from Spain, a dog harness from the Netherlands etc. It's cool when someone admires them and I can say 'oh this old thing, just something I picked up in Paris!'.

grey_so_what

I'm very proud of my "cheap and tacky" plate collection!........I've been collecting for over forty years and I have plates galore. The cheaper and tackier the better. I love looking at them (though they are in storage at the mo), they remind me of the craic I used to have travelling. And I have the child addicted to, there is a bedroom wall covered in magnets.

We love them!

And I love bringing back some handmade pieces from local markets, the type you regret when you are in an airport que and trying to convince the staff they are fragile........:rolleyes:

But it's worth it!....:):):)

FouxDaFaFa

I tend to just keep some of the more interesting tickets (transport or otherwise) and print out and frame my favourite photos from a trip.

I work in a souvenir shop so it's like I'm physically incapable of buying them when I go abroad.

old hippy

Brinimartini wrote: »

I brought home a piece of rock salt from the Wiecksla salt mine in Krakow
and I'm quite attached to it and don't know why.....HELP!

We bought a little bag of the stuff when we were there and 4 years later we're still using it!

ShazGV

I always, always have to take home 2-3 postcards from wherever I've visited to stick up on my wall around an old style map of the world. Mostly from foreign countries, but some of my favourites are ones that I picked up in the Titanic museum in Belfast!
Also shot glasses for the tack factor!
Our family collects fridge magnets too, we have them from all over now. The fridge is covered, it looks great.

shar01

Fridge magnets - of the city coat of arms if I can find it. Have moved onto side of fridge at this stage

Football scarf or pennant of the local team(s) - these are light and don't take up much space in luggage.

Used to bring back prints/professional photos but I was running out of walls.

killbillvol2

I collect football jerseys. Usually the national team but sometimes you have to settle for a local team. They can be very difficult to get your hands on - a lot of countries don't have an obvious place to get them. The search is half the fun.

I also pick my best/favourite photograph from each place and get it done on canvas.

cherryghost

Country flags.

shar01

cherryghost wrote: »

Country flags.

Do this aswell. Just like Dr. Sheldon Cooper....

old hippy

shar01 wrote: »

Do this aswell. Just like Dr. Sheldon Cooper....

Oddly enough, I brought a Sheldon Cooper figure back from a comic store in Atlanta, Georgia last year. Ok, I know he's from Texas but it's still the South...

OakeyDokey

Magnets, the souvenir metal coins you get at some the attraction and beer mats

Never thought of postcards but that sounds like a deadly idea. I might start bringing a little mascot with me to photograph

kerry4sam

lc180 wrote: »

Hi,

I do quite a lot of travelling and I'm thinking I might start a little souvenir collection so that in years to come I have something physical to show for all my backpacking adventures.

The obvious choices would be to pick up a fridge magnet or shot glass from every destination but that seems a little tacky or too obvious and not very unique or personal. I want to collect something a little more.... worthwhile if you understand what I mean.

So just wondering what do other boardies collect from their journeys? Any interesting ideas or suggestions I can steal borrow? :pac:

This reminds me of this challenge I set myself to achieve before I turned 21years - visit every town and village in Kerry and pick up something specific related to each and every location. I still have all my mugs; cups; postcards and trinkets from YES each and every village and town in kerry

These days when I go travelling, the only souvenir or memory I carry home are photos and videos that capture moments never to be repeated, broken, lost or replaced.

/I am a sentimental auld soul! Lovely thread btw!

Thanks,
kerry4sam

brianwalshcork

Duty free, or something else consumable that is cheaper wherever I happen to be than in Ireland.

old hippy

Brought back a bottle of North Korean blueberry wine after visiting the DMZ. Not brilliant but good for cooking with...

fricatus

I find it difficult to throw away the little mementoes of a trip, like the boarding pass for the plane, the admission ticket to a castle/museum, or the metro 3-day pass for example. I often pick up a free city map, restaurant business cards, beer mats, etc. and can't bear to throw them away. This drives my wife cracked.

Eventually I just hit on the idea of a "nostalgia box", which is just a shoebox (or something similar) that I just throw all that stuff into. I mark it with the start date, leave it in the bedroom, fill it with that sort of stuff (and for example thank-you cards for baby gifts, wedding invites, etc.) and when it fills up, I just mark the end date on it and then start a new one.

I've about six or seven of them built up now and it's lovely just to pull one out every so often and just look through them. The other day I found an international phone card from Japan that I would have used to call my girlfriend (and now wife) when I was over there. It's nice when something so insignificant (that you ordinarily would have chucked in the bin) brings back a memory like that.

old hippy

fricatus wrote: »

I find it difficult to throw away the little mementoes of a trip, like the boarding pass for the plane, the admission ticket to a castle/museum, or the metro 3-day pass for example. I often pick up a free city map, restaurant business cards, beer mats, etc. and can't bear to throw them away. This drives my wife cracked.

Eventually I just hit on the idea of a "nostalgia box", which is just a shoebox (or something similar) that I just throw all that stuff into. I mark it with the start date, leave it in the bedroom, fill it with that sort of stuff (and for example thank-you cards for baby gifts, wedding invites, etc.) and when it fills up, I just mark the end date on it and then start a new one.

I've about six or seven of them built up now and it's lovely just to pull one out every so often and just look through them. The other day I found an international phone card from Japan that I would have used to call my girlfriend (and now wife) when I was over there. It's nice when something so insignificant (that you ordinarily would have chucked in the bin) brings back a memory like that.

Completely understand. My wife calls it "hoarding" and apart from other memoribilia mentioned in thread, I do have a habit of bringing back tickets, maps, local magazines, etc. I end up using some as bookmarks and chuck the rest out. Apart from the Suica card which I still use.

fricatus

old hippy wrote: »

Apart from the Suica card which I still use.

I handed back my Pasmo card (the competitor of the Suica I think) at Narita airport so as to get the deposit back. Really wish I'd kept it now, as it had "Fricatus-sama" (well, my real name in katakana writing, plus "sama") written on it. That was pretty cool. At least I've a photo of it anyway...

old hippy

fricatus wrote: »

I handed back my Pasmo card (the competitor of the Suica I think) at Narita airport so as to get the deposit back. Really wish I'd kept it now, as it had "Fricatus-sama" (well, my real name in katakana writing, plus "sama") written on it. That was pretty cool. At least I've a photo of it anyway...

Still have my Pasmo but rarely use it, just got into the habit of Suica. I could fill a suitcase with the amount of junk I pick up over there!!

Wexy86

For me it's beer mats, I usually write where I got it, who I was with and one memory of the trip.

I'm amazing how much you forget until you have a momento to bring the memory back:-)

JohnMearsheimer

I like to collect mugs from the cities I've been to. They're practical things that I can use every day.

I always hold on to maps, plane tickets, admission tickts, the usual stuff. The strangest things I like to keep are public transport tickets I think. London Underground, Boston T, NYC Subway, Paris Metro, Chicago L Train, Vancouver Skytrain, San Francisco BART, Dublin Luas etc

Pang

I keep all my ticket stubs for any attraction I visit and any maps provided. I love collecting maps for museums, zoos etc. I have a scrapbook and I attach everything I collect in there.

It's nice to take it out from time to time and reminisce.

Pretty Polly

I used to collect boring enough things like postcards, pens, beer mats, bags, the plastic wrapper from around a bottle, concert tickets, bus/train tickets to unusual place etc.
Then we moved house so I decided to get rid of a lot of that stuff. I didn't realise how much space it had taken up. I used to be a bit of a hoarder. I had all my Communion cards up until I turned 22:o

old hippy

Pretty Polly wrote: »

I used to collect boring enough things like postcards, pens, beer mats, bags, the plastic wrapper from around a bottle, concert tickets, bus/train tickets to unusual place etc.
Then we moved house so I decided to get rid of a lot of that stuff. I didn't realise how much space it had taken up. I used to be a bit of a hoarder. I had all my Communion cards up until I turned 22

Was it an annual event?

Mutant Mass

STDs :P

Mysteriouschic

Key rings or snow globes.

ardmacha

From the countries I visit, I generally take back a cold, sometimes a sore throat and the flu from time to time.

KevinK

KevinK wrote: »

Haircuts.

I like to collect hair cuts on my travels, I'm not into bringing stuff home so it seems like a good "souvenir"
I've gotten my hair cut in 13 different countries so far.

Update on this nearly 6 years later.

Have gotten a haircut in..

1. Egypt
2. Greece
3. Croatia
4. United Kingdon
5. Tanzania
6. Malawi
7. Antigua and Barbuda
8. Slovakia
9. China
10. Thailand
11. Honduras
12. Belize
13. Turkey
14. Namibia
15. Ethiopia
16. Uzbekistan
17. Paraguay
18. Costa Rica (beard trim)
19. Nicaragua
20. Australia
21. Indonesia
22. Malta